"I
now know why men who have been to war yearn to reunite. Not
to tell stories or look at old pictures. Not to laugh or
weep. Comrades gather because they long to be with the men
who once acted at their best; men who suffered and sacrificed, who were
stripped of their humanity. I did not pick these men.
They were delivered by fate and the military. But I
know them in a way I know no other men. I have never given
anyone such trust. They were willing to guard something more
precious than my life. They would have carried my reputation,
the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all made,
the reason we were so willing to die for one another.
As long as I have memory, I will think of them all, every
day. I am sure that when I leave this world, my last thought
will be of my family and my comrades... Such good men."

Patrol Squadron Two: At first, in the 1930s,
there was the PM-4, and then, with a
second beginning in 1943 (VPB-130) there was the Ventura, then the
Harpoon, and
then the Neptune!

The Truculent Turtle was one of the first Neptunes,
setting the 1946 non
refueled non-stop distance record on a flight from Perth, Australia to
Columbus, Ohio that persisted for years.

The 2010 gathering of
Patrol Squadron Two Association
veterans decided
to take on the task of sponsoring the Truculent Turtle; now perched in
the new hangar at the National
Naval Aviation Museum; Sherman Field, Pensacola, Florida. A
painting of the Truculent Turtle in flight by Robert Fiacco has been
donated to the Turtle endowment. It is posted below the sponsors
listing on the endowment page. More
on the Turtle here.